A federal prosecutor detailed to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota was removed from her position after a stunning incident this week in which she told a federal judge she was “overwhelmed” with her caseload and expressed frustration that she could not convince Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to abide by court orders.
Julie T. Le appeared Monday before District Judge Jerry R. Blackwell for a hearing after ICE failed to meet multiple deadlines imposed by the court. In particular, Blackwell was incensed that five detainees had not been promptly freed after he ruled that they were illegally detained by federal agents.
According to a transcript of the proceedings, Le explained she was detailed to the U.S. Attorney’s Office from the Department of Homeland Security for a “special mission” in early January to assist with the dramatic increase in cases caused by the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation efforts there.
“What do you want me to do? The system sucks. This job sucks,” Le said. “And I am trying every breath that I have so that I can get you what you need.”
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“Sometimes I wish you would just hold me in contempt, your honor, so that I can have a full 24 hours of sleep,” Le added.
When confronted by the judge that ICE appeared to be slow-walking its compliance with court orders, Le described her interactions with ICE officials as “pulling teeth.”
Le said she had written her emails to ICE officials in “big, bold font” describing the importance of following the court’s instructions, especially those requiring the release of detainees currently in custody.
“I share the same concern with you, Your Honor,” she said. “I am not white, as you can see, and my family’s at risk as any other people that might get picked up too, so I share the same concern, and I took that concern to heart. Fixing a system, a broken system, I don’t have a magic button to do it. I don’t have the power or the voice to do it. I only can do it within the ability
and the capacity that I have.”
An official with the Department of Justice told NOTUS on Tuesday that Le was detailed to the local U.S. attorney’s office “from an outside agency – and that detail is now over.” She was also fired from her role at DHS, according to a spokesperson for the department.
“The individual was a probationary attorney,” Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told NOTUS in a statement. “This conduct is unprofessional and unbecoming of an ICE attorney in abandoning her obligation to act with commitment, dedication, and zeal to the interests of the United States Government.”
Le also told the judge that she tried to previously quit her job in Minnesota, submitting a resignation letter and a time frame for her departure, followed by a request to be transferred back to DHS.
“Before I walk[ed] out, I was able to release another individual, a juvenile,” Le explained, prompting the U.S. attorney’s office to beg her to stay.
“‘Like, ‘Wait, Julie, stop. You need to go back and get more people out,’” Le said, describing her interaction with the office. “That’s why I’m still here.”
Blackwell expressed sympathy for Le’s complaints throughout the hearing, but pushed back repeatedly against what he called “some opaque sort of shield that I can’t really see behind to figure out why the orders aren’t being complied with.”
“I hear the concerns about all the energy that this is causing the DOJ to expend, but with respect, some of it is of your own making by not complying with orders,” Blackwell said. “With whom does the buck stop?”
Responding to Le’s claims, a DOJ spokesperson sought to cast blame for the situation on “rogue judges,” alleging the judiciary was not following the law in its handling of the massive influx of immigration-related cases in Minnesota.
“If rogue judges followed the law in adjudicating cases and respected the government’s obligation to properly prepare cases, there wouldn’t be an ‘overwhelming’ habeas caseload or concern over DHS following orders,” a spokesperson for the agency told NOTUS.
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